Minister heckled at Chanukah vigil as calls grow for action against antisemitism
Health Minister Ashley Dalton spoke at event near parliament organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism and Chabad Lubavitch UK
A Government minister was heckled as she pledged solidarity with Jewish people at a memorial event and Chanukah celebration for those killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack.
Health Minister Ashley Dalton told the largely Jewish crowd in London’s Parliament Square, who had gathered in for a memorial event and Chanukah celebration where a Menorah candle was lit, that she was “standing with the Jewish people”.
She said: “We are here to stand together against the hatred and vitriol from wherever it comes. The Government does not and will not tolerate antisemitism.”
She was interrupted by calls of “stop the marches and “we want action, not words” from some people in the crowd.
She was able to continue speaking after a Chabad rabbi stepped onto the stage and called for the listeners to be “ambassadors of light” and allow her to speak.
Dalton, who said she had volunteered to speak “in good faith,” continued: “What happened on the first day of Chanukah – the vitriol, the violence, the terrorism – we do not accept.”
She said: “We cannot fight the darkness of evil, vitriol, terrorism and hatred by hating each other, by expressing our own vitriol. We must take the anger and frustration that we all feel and bring it together and stand together and light this candle in hope and in unity and in solidarity
.“I come to do that with you today, and I will stand in solidarity with you no matter how much you shout, no matter how much you holler. I will stand in solidarity with you today and light this candle, because peace and light are our way forward.”
Also speaking at the Chanukah rally, organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism and Chabad Lubavitch UK, outside Parliament in Westminster, was Tory shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson.
He said: “I want to see us all being more muscular in defending the values that make the UK the society we want it to be.”
Speaking at the memorial event on Monday evening, he added: “In the past few weeks, we saw marchers in Manchester and Birmingham calling for Intifada.
“Well, do you know what globalising the Intifada looks like? We do now – it looks like bodies piled on the sands of Bondi Beach – that is what globalising the Intifada means.
“When marches in London called for Jihad, and the Metropolitan Police told us that Jihad can mean personal development or personal reflection. It might be in a theological seminar, but when shouted on the streets of London, we know what it means – it means an attack on Jews, and so let’s celebrate Chanukah publicly, proudly as Jews and as members of UK society.”
Jewish people fear they could be attacked again in the UK, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism told the London vigil for the Bondi Beach victims.
Speaking a day after the Australia terror attack and to applause, Gideon Falter said, “Celebrating Chanukah is just an act of celebration, but tonight it feels like an act of defiance.”
He added, “Unfortunately, Jews have been warning about the dangers of extremism and radicalism running amok in our country for years, and time has run out.
“It is time not for thoughts and prayers or words of solidarity, but action from our politicians, action from our Government.”
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